Mary
Altaffer, Freelance Photographer, NYC
It's hard for me to put into words my experience on 9/11/01. There
are parts of the day I can't remember, I look at my negatives
and see images I don't remember making, I talked to people at
the scene I don't remember seeing. The only thing I remember clearly
is the sound of the jumpers hitting the ground. There were too
many of them; it was overwhelming. I didn't remember this woman
until I looked at my negatives closely. She was making her way
into Battery Park City after the first explosion and collapse,
trying to get to her apartment where her two kids were. What I'm
trying to do now is to concentrate on the acts of kindness I saw
like these two police officers who very gently aided her.

James
W. Anness, Staff Photographer, The Record (Bergen County, NJ):
We watched the towers collapse from Jersey City and all of us
just had a collective gasp as if the air was sucked out of us.
There were about 40 of us and we all did the same thing, and then
tears just started to come out. The collective sadness and silence
was almost deafening... knowing the amount of people who just
perished.

Michael
Bonfigli:
It didn't really sink in until Friday Sept. 14 when Bush declared
a day of remembrance and prayer. He gathered with other dignitaries
and religious leaders from all faiths. People who did not get
tickets to enter the National Cathedral stood along Wisconsin
Avenue in Washington DC, some hugging each other, some still in
shock about Tuesday's attacks, and some waving American flags.
At the end of the ceremony bells were ringing in the air. Just
as the presidential motorcade came through people started to clap
and directly in front of me a young man in full uniform gave a
full salute to the Present. I photographed him from behind as
my eyes began to fill with tears; a moment later a woman put her
hand on my back and whispered "that will be a beautiful photo".
I wiped the tears from my eyes and thanked her and continued to
photograph.

See
the Video Interviews with
David Handschuh, Angel Franco,
Ruth Fremson, Aaron Fineman,
James Nachtwey, Doug Mills
and Michael Williamson